Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Travel Tuesday, ICLW Edition

Welcome ICLWers! My TTC history is over on the sidebar. Here's a very brief summary: I have an amazing 17 month old daughter, Miss M, and a great husband. We're currently trying to have a second child using Clo.mid. In the past, I've struggled with late ovulation and short luteal phases, and we've had two miscarriages. Our daughter was conceived on Clo.mid. We are currently living in Europe, and I mostly blog about expat life, the baby, and TTC. On Tuesdays, I try to post about our travel exploits, so without further ado. . .

We are back from Italy, and I am exhausted. Between the Clo.mid kicking my ovaries for the better part of the week and the head cold that I ended up with, I need a vacation to recover from my vacation! But those things aside, it was fabulous. We spent most of the week on the Amalfi Coast, which was breathtakingly beautiful. Picture mountainous terrain that ends in a tumble of pastel colored houses falling toward turquoise seas. Or, see it yourself:

We rented a villa from Summer in Italy , and I can highly recommend the agency. The place we rented was gorgeous, even nicer than the photos, with an enormous patio that ran the entire length of the building, and overlooked the sea, with gorgeous views up and down the coast (we were high up on a hill). The agency was really helpful, and their prices were great. It's always hard to find an agency you trust, but they came highly recommended, and we were happy with them. We spent the week hiking and taking in the sights, and there were excellent hiking trails that started right down the street from us. The cute little grandfather who lived below our unit left us a basket of the best apricots for the baby, and she absolutely devoured them. It was just a perfect vacation.

We did this amazing hike that was incredibly hard, but so beautiful. My pictures don't even do it justice. It wound up through the mountains then back down to the ocean, through terraced lemon groves and wild olive trees, and fragrant patches of rosemary and fennel and sage and oregano growing wild everywhere. The sea glinted through the trees far, far below us, and we could hear the tinkling of sheep grazing somewhere on a terrace below us. It was simply magical.

On another day, we traveled to Paestum to see the ancient ruins there. The transportation connections were a little tough, but it was SO worth it! It was gorgeous, and so cool to see some of the best preserved Greek temples in the world (in Italy, no less!). During WWII, one of the temples was used as a Allied military field hospital during the final stages of the war, which added to the cool factor. It was in a rural area, and a huge site which included three temples, but it was almost deserted. It felt incredibly special to be walking around such an ancient and once sacred place. One of the coolest things was that there was a pool there, which women used to walk through in ancient times to try to increase their fertility. Even 2000 years ago, they struggled! The pool was still there, perfectly preserved, albeit without any water. The stones were still intact, including the shallow end where they once waded in. The temples at the site were roped off, but nothing else was, so of course I waded in (grass was growing over the stones, so I didn't feel like I was disturbing ancient ruins). Hopefully a little 2000 year old fertility magic rubbed off on me!

All in all, just a really great vacation. Miss M was a champion traveler--she loves people, she loves to sit high in her perch in the backpack as we hike around, and she really loved the food. She is going to be a wonderful travel companion as she grows.

On the TTC front, I have to say that Clo.mid was kind of rough this month. I know I shouldn't whine, because there are women using much more challenging drugs. But, I'm going to! I took it CD2-6 this time, rather than CD5-10 as I did the last few times I've used it. My ovaries both swelled, and I was in pain all week and enormously swollen. The pain continued as I ovulated. I was just swollen and in pain, and then with the head cold. . .yuck. There was a point where I was so miserable, I thought that I just didn't want to do another cycle of Clo.mid, if this one doesn't work out. I'm probably not THERE, now that the pain has cleared, but still.

I'm not exactly sure when I ovulated--I had loads of CM on CD14 and 15; the monitor gave me a peak on CD16, though. Our timing wasn't perfect, given that we have a toddler to entertain, and were vacationing with my stepsister. In fact, I'm kind of surprised we got to work anything in at all! Despite swimming in the ancient fertility pool, I'm not optimistic about this cycle. I'm not feeling it. It's so interesting, though, how much more relaxed I feel about everything now that we are TTC#2. It was so much more stressful before. I haven't even decided if I'll test, and if so, when! Last time, I practically had the tests lined up on the bathroom counter once I ovulated! I do enjoy testing, though. Maybe the beginning of next week?

It sounds like you're responding to Clomid, which is great, though I guess you already knew you did, since you used Clomid for Miss M. Regardless, at least response means possibilities! Hopeful for you.

As for Clomid, I've never been on it myself (we've only done IVFs and FETs), but I have several friends who've been on Clomid and done injectable IUIs and IVF. They've all said that the side effects from Clomid are worse than other drugs.

Wishing you all the best with your journey toward a second child. We're expats too (U.S. Foreign Service), so I look forward to following your blog!

Wow! What beautiful scenery...it must be amazing to be there! I hope your timing worked out better than you think. My LO is a result of Clomid to overcome late/weak/generally sucky ovulation. I know how it feels for it to be messing with your body---hope your vacation was a nice distraction from it!

About Me

40-something married chickabiddy who just might have found her happy life. First we had the baby of our dreams after a very long wait, then came her amazing sister. And just to keep things interesting, I secured work abroad in an amazing place. Borneo, perhaps? Probably not (this time), but sure to be interesting!